


Diamonds

by run_jhope_run



Series: House of Cards [2]
Category: After School (Band), B.A.P, Big Bang (Band), EXO (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5743138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/run_jhope_run/pseuds/run_jhope_run
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>GDragon took one of V's hands in his own. "We know your mother's name. And, you know, you’re practically an adult now, so we can tell you if you want."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diamonds

Sometime in early March, Jung Daehyun decided to visit a theatre. It was perhaps the worst thing he could have done that day.

Byun Baekhyun looked in the cracked dressing room mirror. She was wearing a pink frock that stuck out in an unruly fashion and had outlined her eyes thickly in black kohl.

"Baekhyun! We need to be on in two minutes!" Someone was calling her. Whatever.

Baekhyun turned back to the mirror. She hated her name. Her father had been desperate for a son, and her mother was too ill to argue.

So she had a boy's name.

She stood up reluctantly. "I'm coming." Her voice was high-pitched and cute.

As the music started and the dancers tiptoed onto stage, Baekhyun saw someone in the audience. Serious face, muscular arms under a smart white shirt and eyes that were fixated on . . . her.

Daehyun couldn't keep his gaze off this beautiful girl. He knew he had to make her his.

~~~  
After the performance, when the dancers were taking off their makeup, Victoria called across the dressing room. "Baekhyun, there's someone to see you."

Baekhyun found the same stranger who'd been watching her so intently earlier now standing by the wall, arms crossed, as he waited for her. "What do you want with me, sir?" she asked. His clothes looked important.

Daehyun leant forward and whispered in Baekhyun's ear. She blushed, then followed him to one of the hotel rooms upstairs.

~~~  
"Let me keep him!" Baekhyun screamed, hugging her baby to her chest. "I'll pay for everything! There's nowhere else for us to go, please!"

The landlord shook his head sadly. "It's either him or both of you. I simply can't afford it, and you know I'll end up paying."

Baekhyun stared at the baby in her arms. "I won't fail you, Taehyung," she said.  
"You're not going to leave?"

"I have to stay with my baby." Baekhyun pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders and picked up her only suitcase. "I'll find a new life."

"That mysterious man - he left you. You're not seriously thinking he'll be out there, he'll still love you and take you and your baby in?" The landlord held Baekhyun's hand. "Don't think that. He won't."

Secretly, Baekhyun still wished it. But it wasn't to be. It was as simple as that. Daehyun hadn't tried to contact her; he hadn't even left his full name.

"Goodbye."

Baekhyun never knew how she survived for the next month. She ate only to feed Taehyung.

One day, she just gave up. There it was. The orphanage. They'd give him a home and she could return to her dead-end dancing job.

"I love you Taehyung," she said, hardly caring who heard. "You'll be safe. Remember your mother, Baekhyun." With that, she kissed his head and laid him on the doorstep.

"See that, Daesung?" Two boys were crouching behind the wall, and the older one, aged about sixteen, was pointing the baby out to the younger. "That's not good."

"She called herself Baekhyun," the younger boy said. He glanced at the older. "Seunghyun, that's a boy's name."

"That's not the problem." Seunghyun waved his hand at the baby. "The baby's gonna die. The orphanage isn't taking any more."

"The kid's gonna die on the streets," the younger boy, Daesung, said, trying to adopt Seunghyun's accent. "What are we gonna, like, do?"

"I'm too kind for my own good," Seunghyun muttered. He checked the street both ways before scrambling over the broken tarmac road to the baby. "You'd better make us proud, yeah?" he said as he picked it up. It was so small, so beautiful. It was a boy.

Daesung ran over and peered down at him too. The baby was lovely, but there were more important things to think about. "Seunghyun, the coppers are coming. Run!"

Seunghyun hid the baby in his coat. It was a simple action, but the warmth made him want to cry. A baby.

Daesung had already run along the cracked pavement, pulling a hood onto his head. He was only young. Too young to be on the streets. But then again--

The baby woke and began to cry. It was as if he knew his mother had left him and that a stranger was holding him.

Seunghyun groaned; he sprinted up an alleyway after Daesung.

~~~  
"We can't keep him." The self proclaimed leader of their group - it was hardly a gang - stood over the baby, arms crossed. Jiyong was not particularly tall, not short either, but he would definitely stand out in a crowd. His hair, reaching the small of his back, was a bright purple, and the dye bottle was lying on the floor.

"We're keeping him." Seunghyun crossed his own arms.

"TOP, you know we can't," Jiyong pleaded.

Daesung came out of the other room with a bottle in his hand. He knelt by the baby and offered it the milk.

"Dae's gone soft," Jiyong sneered. "You've gone soft, TOP. Am I the only normal one?"

"It's not abnormal to have instincts to look after a helpless baby. C'mon Ji, surely you care."

Jiyong rolled his eyes. "TOP, sweetie, you can't win me over that easy."

TOP wrapped his arms around Jiyong's shoulders and hugged him tightly. "Please, Ji, I /need/ this. I need you, and so does the baby."

"Does he have a name?"

"V," Daesung said from the floor. He had managed to get the baby feeding. "His name is V."

Jiyong gave a shuddering sigh. "Alright, then. V, welcome to your new life."

~~~  
V woke to the sound of a road sweeper above his head. He sat up and hit his forehead on one of the beams holding the ceiling - or rather the pavement - up.

Not a good start to the day.

He swung his legs off his bunk and padded to the makeshift bathroom, then made his way to the place where Jiyong, now known as GDragon, and TOP, previously Seunghyun, were eating beans out of a tin. They both dropped it and stood up.

"Daesung, put the porridge on!" TOP called, and V remembered what day it was.  
Jiyong pulled him into the bathroom before he could say anything. "While Daesung makes breakfast, we have a job to do."

V's heart skipped a beat when he saw the bottle of orange hair dye on the side of the sink. He grinned broadly at GDragon.

Their leader was an expert at hair dyeing; his current colour was vivid blue. He hadn't let V go anywhere near a bottle of dye for seventeen years, but today was different.

The birthday boy walked out of the bathroom, orange hair dripping onto his shoulders, to a breakfast of porridge. Their resident thief had stolen a packet from a nearby shop's basement, and was now pouring it into a bowl, steaming hot and gloopy.

"Morning, Daesung!" V greeted him.

"Happy birthday!" Daesung waved the ladle in the air as V sat next to the fifth member of their gang.

Taeyang frightened V. He was menacing in appearance, but far from hostile in attitude. He checked around him, then poured a generous amount of syrup from his inside pocket onto V's breakfast. "Don't tell anyone I have this," he warned, tucking it back under his arm.

Sugar was expensive and rare. If one of the others, GDragon or Seungri maybe, had discovered the bottle, there would be none left after five minutes. TOP was probably the most conservative with food.

"It's stupid that we should have to celebrate adding one year to your age," Taeyang grumbled. "GTOP are probably gonna give you a talk today, so watch out."

"About what?" V asked, licking the spoon thoroughly.

"Sex."

V choked. "Why?" he coughed, going red.

"You're seventeen now, you know," Taeyang teased with a wink.

"Yeah, I mean, who am I going to do it with?" V muttered, leaning over his breakfast.

"I don't know," Taeyang deliberated, rubbing his bottom lip. "Seungri might have his eye on you . . ."

V mimed sticking his fingers down his throat.

Raised voices in another room tore them away from their food again. Taeyang tutted - they didn't want the police to find their underground home. It was just a series of cellars and basements, dusty, covered in water pipes, but it was home.

"It doesn't matter! He doesn't need to meet his parents!" Seungri yelled. He was the youngest but one; he joined the gang eight years ago and was V's closest friend.

"To be fair, it's his choice," TOP pointed out.

"Fine, I'll ask him," GDragon sighed. "V, come in here!"

Taeyang raised his eyebrows at the younger boy. "GTOP can't wait to give you that talk."

"Shut up," V moaned. "I'm coming!" he yelled to their leader.

GDragon and TOP were looking far too serious as V came into the room. Seungri sat with them, sighing deeply.

"V, sit down," GDragon said, patting the seat next to him. V sat, awkwardly.

"Your hair looks . . . interesting," TOP commented.

"V." GDragon cleared his throat. "Do you want to know where you came from?"

"Please don't talk to me about sex," V pleaded.

"I'm not going to." GDragon took one of V's hands in his own. "We know your mother's name. And, you know, you’re practically an adult now, so we can tell you if you want."

There was silence.

V studied every detail of GDragon's face.

"TOP and Daesung heard her talk. They'll be able to--"

"Shut up." V got to his feet. "I don't want to hear. She abandoned me."

"You might be able to find out why--"

V shook his head. "I'm glad she gave me life. Brought me here. But I'm happy here."

"There's nothing more to say," Seungri interrupted. "He's made his decision." He rolled his eyes and stormed out.

"You can change your mind at any time," GDragon offered.

V glared. "I'm going out."

"Where?"

"Out."

Once V had climbed up the dirty metal ladder, he pulled Taeyang's long coat - the one the older kept in the crumbling building they lived under - over his shoulders. He felt a hole in the pocket.

The surface wasn't V's favourite place - he preferred discovering other tunnels with GDragon and TOP. Still, he knew his way to a few places.

He scrambled over the wire fence that surrounded the building and looked around. The cobbled street was dark, despite it being nearly midday.

"V!" Daesung hissed, appearing in the doorway. He seemed reluctant to venture out.

"Go away," V snapped.

"There are coppers about," Daesung whispered. He glanced up and down. "Come in and no one'll get hurt."

"Don't care," V muttered.

There was a whooshing sound and V felt something thud into him. He looked down; there was a dart sticking out of his shoulder.

Daesung ran to the fence, breaking cover. "Jump up!" he insisted.

V grabbed onto the wire and hoisted himself up. With a final pull, he reach the top and felt all of his strength leave him.

He fell sideways.

Luckily, it was the right way. Daesung caught his limp body as it pitched forward; V landed heavily on him.

V was aware of being dragged, but he couldn't feel anything. He saw Seungri's worried face peering down at him.

It was torture not being able to communicate. V lay still, the only muscles working his vital organs, watching.

"They shot him with one of their darts," Taeyang said, crossing his arms. "How is that keeping peace?"

"They do anything in the name of peace," TOP said. "They're just sadists and looking for profit."

Seungri looked at V. "Do we feed him or what?"

V cringed at the thought of himself being treated like a baby. He forced his hand to move slowly.

Movement had returned.

V tried calling for his friends, but only a sticky trail of saliva came out. He ignored it, difficult as it was, and attempted moving his foot. His leg gave a feeble shake. Good enough.

He lifted it a centimetre and let it fall to the ground again. He was grateful for the heavy boots he wore.

TOP turned around on the second thump. He knelt by V.

"Are you feeling better?" Daesung asked, wiping the saliva off V's face with a cloth. V blinked slowly as a reply.

GDragon sat by V's side. "V," he whispered. He took the frozen boy's hand in his. "I'm saying this while you can't argue." He paused. "Your mother's name is Baekhyun."

There was silence. Utter silence.

Seungri cursed lightly. "I told you not to tell him!" he yelled at their leader.

V moaned softly. He wished the words would come out; he wanted to say that he didn't care. But somehow or other, he found himself tapping out the truth in Morse code with his foot.

/I want to find her/.

.. / .-- .- -. - / - --- / ..-. .. -. -.. / .... . .-.

~~~  
V spent the next few hours propped in a sitting position, waiting for his strength to return. It did - inch by inch - and by midday he was walking again. He spoke no more about his mother.

/Baekhyun/ still sounded completely foreign on his tongue.

"Are you hungry?" GDragon asked in the distance. V couldn't be bothered to answer. He just glared at the pipes that ran around the walls of their home.

He groaned suddenly. "Where's Seungri?"

GDragon jerked a thumb in the direction of his and TOP's shared room.

Seungri was sitting on the bed, shirt untucked, humming softly. He met V's eyes as the younger boy entered.

"Do you have a moment?" V asked softly.

"Yes," Seungri snapped. He was still angry at GDragon, V could tell.

"What happened to /your/ parents? I mean, you're kind of posh . . ." V trailed off.

Seungri turned his back. "I ran away."

V reached for his friend's hand. He rested his chin on Seungri's shoulder and wrapped his arms around his chest. They stayed stationary for a long time.

Eventually, Seungri gave a little sob. "You deserve more than this," he whispered, pressing his lips to V's scalp. "If I could have given you my home, my parents and the security of life, I would a thousand times. You deserve safety and I can never let you be hurt again."

A lump rose in V's throat. "I don't deserve it," he replied, his hair brushing Seungri's collarbone. "But if I could find your parents . . ."

"I'm twenty-two." Seungri fixed him with a look. "I was twelve years old when I left."

"Twelve years old?" V asked incredulously.

"I don't want to remember it." Seungri chuckled; it sounded hollow. "GTOP brought me up from there."

"Why did you run away?"

Seungri leant his head backwards to rest it on V's chest. "You don't need to know."

~~~  
Daesung was an intelligent man. He knew how to evade the police; he knew the best ways to steal almost anything. He knew how to stop people crying and how to get rid of fever.

He knew how to find V's parents.

GDragon flipped through a book called which, according to Daesung, contained results of a census of the entire country. There wouldn't be many females by the name of Baekhyun.

TOP pulled GDragon's hand into his lap, bored already. He didn't want to lose his son.

"Get V," GDragon said suddenly. He pointed to a name. "That must be her."

~~~  
Taeyang studied the woman who'd opened the door. She looked nothing like V.

"Are you Baekhyun?" V asked. Seungri grabbed his hand for comfort.

"No, I'm not. I'm the landlady."

"Does she live here?" TOP placed his foot in front of the door to prevent it closing.

The landlady frowned. "Is one of you called Daehyun?" She searched the faces of the older visitors, GDragon and TOP.

Seungri pushed V forward. "None of us is Daehyun, but he's Taehyung."

"Come this way."

As they were lead into the darkened house, V poked Seungri. "Taehyung?" he whispered.

"Your birth name."

"What?"

"GDragon told me."

The landlady showed them into a darkened back room, where a woman in a faded pink dress was sitting. She looked up and stared straight at V.

"Baekhyun?" V muttered. His slight American twang - similar to GDragon's accent - made the woman sigh.

"Who are you?" She stood up and faced them.

V looked at Seungri for confirmation. Seungri nodded.

"I'm Taehyung, but my friends call me V."

"/You're/ Taehyung?"

"Are you my mother?"

They stared at each other before the woman spoke again. "No. I can take you to her."

And there it was. Out the back, a wooden block with words crudely etched into the side.

/Here lies Byun Baekhyun/

"You're kidding." V threw up his hands. "You're joking . . . you're lying!"

He was engulfed from behind by TOP, whose strong, protective arms pulled him to safety.

TOP was warm, but Seungri was even more so as he held V closely.

V groaned into Seungri's ear - a hollow sound that forced the older to hold him tighter.

"No . . ."

~~~  
The house in which Byun Baekhyun had lived was old and falling apart. Most of the floorboards had been pulled up and incorrectly replaced, and the entire second floor was completely out of bounds. Still, the first had two bedrooms and the ground a kitchen that worked.

V sat in an armchair, gulping down some tea. The landlady had put 'something’ in it to calm him down.

It seemed to be working.

"She came back here, you know," the landlady suddenly said. "Without the baby. We looked for him everywhere, but it was hopeless. We visited the orphanage - everywhere you might be. We assumed you were dead.

"A week before she died, we found out who your father is, Taehyung." She stared at V.

Seungri watched V turn his head slowly. Maybe there would be some hope for the younger's happiness. /Whatever's right for V,/ Seungri thought.

"Who is he?" V asked. It was less than a question.

"Jung Daehyun of JD Entertainment."

There was silence.

"As in the singers?" Taeyang muttered.

"He manages singers, yes," the landlady said. "Artists like BAP and Lee Hi. But he also has a wife - Jimin, née Park - and an adopted son."

V held a hand to his head. It was all coming at him too fast. "Where . . . where can I find him?"

"He has an office at JD Entertainment," Daesung said quickly.

"He also has a home address in the yellow book," TOP pointed out.

~~~  
Daehyun's house was large, white and square. There was an electronic gate and a straight tarmac path lead up to the door.

TOP whistled. "So this is how the other half live."

"Press the button," Seungri urged.

A loud buzz came from the gate, and it swung open.

"Look, V," Taeyang said, crossing his arms, "I don't think you should be crowded in there. I mean . . ."

"You don't want to come in?" V asked. "It's okay; I'll go on my own."

"No." Seungri stopped him. "You should have someone to support you."

V smiled suddenly. “Thank you.”

As they walked up the drive, V’s hand reached out and grabbed his friend’s. They shared another smile, and then the front door opened and Jung Daehyun was standing there.

He wasn’t particularly impressive-looking, just a small man with a receding hairline and a few days stubble on his jaw. Seungri almost laughed at the resemblance between V and his father.

“A-are you my father?” V asked, for he wasn’t quite at the point where he’d drop everything and crawl towards his daddy.

“Who are you?” Daehyun demanded.

“I’m Baekhyun’s child.”

“The dancer?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. My name’s Taehyung.”

V was immediately swept up in an embrace. “It’s good to finally meet you, son.”

Seungri’s hand was still weakly resting in V’s, and he gave it a small squeeze. He watched as V chatted to his father, and followed when Daehyun led them into his house.

“Would you and your friend like to stay the night? I really want to catch up on all these years, Taehyung,” Daehyun asked.

“Is that alright? Will your wife be angry?”

“She won’t mind a bit, you’re family! I have so much to do - we need to legally make you my son - and we should really, really, hang out some time. And of course, you’re getting my inheritance.”

“What?” V said, stupified.

“Ah, here’s Jimin! V, this is my wife, your stepmother, and--”

“Pleased to meet you,” Jimin said, with a face that contradicted every word. She was short, with cropped black hair and a startlingly fake smile.

Seungri didn’t trust her.

~~~  
The loud bang that hit Seungri as he was about to fall asleep could only mean one thing - a gun had been fired.

He pushed himself out of bed and ran towards where the shot had come from. There were ridiculous numbers of stairs and landings and rooms until--

V was standing in his father’s study. With a gun in his hand. And Daehyun was dead in his chair.

Seungri swore. “V, what--”

V turned round, pistol loose in his hand. “Someone . . . shot . . .”

“Somebody help!” Someone - Jimin - screamed from the doorway. “They’ve shot my husband!”

“No, I haven’t . . .” V said weakly.

“Then why are you in here?” Jimin shrieked.

“I heard . . . shouting. And then there was a gun noise.”

Seungri frowned. There hadn’t been shouting.

“Ri, I feel--” V gave that as a warning, before he fainted into his friend’s arms. The gun clattered to the floor.

~~~  
Seungri had been left with no choice but to leave V with Jimin as he went to phone the police. And then he phoned GDragon.

Daehyun’s study door was still open, and Seungri entered without a second thought. He grimaced at the body, but walked around the desk anyway.

Daehyun had been rewriting his will. It was obviously notes for his lawyer.

Kim Taehyung, all my African diamonds.

GDragon had chosen the name Kim for V, it being common and actually very likely that was his parents’ name. And earlier that evening Daehyun had explained that Taehyung was the name of Baekhyun’s father as well.

Diamonds.

That wasn’t his first priority now.

“Is it true?” Seungri snapped round to see a young teenage boy frowning at him. “Is he dead?”

“Yeah. You’re Hoseok, right?”

The boy nodded. He waved a hand at Daehyun’s limp form - rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet - and smiled sadly. “I didn’t like him. I wasn’t the son he wanted.”

“That’s too bad.”

“He’s tryna give away Mum’s diamonds.”

“They aren’t your mother’s.” Seungri pulled a few papers out of a pile. “Your father owned diamond mines. This is orders for mining. Signed Jung Daehyun. Now they go to V.”

“No. That can’t be true.”

Seungri patted the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll get some of them.”

“But they’re my mum’s.”

Seungri sifted through the piles of paper. He shook his head. “They belonged to your grandmother on your father’s side.” He grinned. “And now they’re V’s.”

~~~  
“Welcome to Africa,” Seungri said as the safe door opened. There were small boxes of uncut diamonds covering one wall, and a few cut on shelves.

“Daehyun kept these aside as samples,” the bank assistant said, smirking at their reactions.

“V, can I . . . ?” GDragon asked in awe.

“Take as much as you want,” the younger said. The six of them were admiring the jewels.

“Wow…” Taeyang ran his thumb over one. “Are you serious, V?”

“Yeah.” V pulled his sleeve over his knuckles. “Imma . . . imma give my brother a load of diamonds,” he mumbled, “and he gets to keep Daddy’s house.”

“Daddy?!” GDragon choked.

V turned red. “My father,” he corrected himself.

“So cute,” Taeyang laughed raucously.

Everyone glanced at him in surprise, including the bank assistant.

“Shut up,” Taeyang groaned, holding his stomach, still laughing. “It’s cute.”

“Haha.” TOP laughed stiffly. “Transfer the jewels. Take some. Stop stalling.”

As they stood in the huge reception, V doodled on his hand. A heart, a butterfly, a diamond. He had always dreamt about having parents. For a long time, GDragon and TOP had been them. He'd loved that. /They'd/ loved him.

~~~  
Hoseok was sitting on the sofa in their home. He looked awkward, clutching a pocketful of diamonds in a bag in his lap. V and Taeyang were laughing over a magazine. Daesung worried his lip with his teeth. It had been discovered that V’s half-brother was only twelve, meaning that he couldn't legally own his late father's house. V was a generous boy, but he drew the line at letting Jimin keep the house.

Maybe, if TOP and GDragon wanted another child, they could take Hoseok in. Then again, this boy had probably been coddled all his life, and would be unsuited to the lifestyle.

There was a quiet beeping sound, and Hoseok jumped up. There was a red flashing light on his collar. “What is that?” he screamed. “Is it a bomb?”

Taeyang pulled him close and inspected it. “No, don’t be stupid. It’s a tracking device.”

“My mum gave this to me this morning,” Hoseok said, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. “So, that means…?”

“She wants the diamonds,” GDragon said. He shook his head. “Hoseok, are you involved?” he demanded.

“No!” the boy cried. He held out the diamonds. “Keep them. I’ve got to get as far away from you as possible.”

Seungri pulled out a pair of fabric scissors and cut the beeping light off Hoseok’s collar. He threw it down a drain. “They’ll probably look for you in the sewers below,” he said. “Jiyong, I trust him.”

“So do I,” GDragon said. He held his hand out for Daesung to give him a bunch of keys, and they went through a door V had never noticed.

Their ‘house’ was half underground, the top of it an abandoned office block with only two usable floors - most of the pre-fabricated walls pulled down years ago - and below ground a service tunnel above a disused, decommissioned sewer. The whole thing was surrounded by walls and high fences.

GDragon led them out of the back exit, where in the past smokers would have taken their breaks. Dozens of broken bicycles were littering the old car park. It was a small car park, maybe ten metres one way and eight the other, but in the middle stood an open-backed truck, a few blankets covering piles of stuff on the back seat. Taeyang took the keys and unlocked the driver’s side. He invited Hoseok to the passenger’s seat, and yelled at the others to jump into the open-topped end.

As the car started up, they could hear the sounds of police sirens. TOP pushed V’s head down to hide his face.

Seungri patted the main body of the car as they drove out of the fence, accompanied by a couple of uniformed police officers running after them, yelling into their radios. “This’s about half of the diamonds. We couldn’t tell you, V, ‘cause you’d tell your brother.”

“You have so much faith in me,” V complained, still face to the floor.

“We only have fuel for about a hundred miles,” Daesung said, “But that’s enough to get us to Xi’an. We can get lost there.”

“Taeyang knows that, right?” V asked.

“I’m talking into a walkie-talkie, duh.”

The wails of police cars followed them for miles, through several towns. GDragon suddenly looked at the map. He pressed the walkie-talkie button. “Taeyang, wrong exit.”

“I know what I’m doing,” came the reply. “This baby has killer steering.”

“Hoseok, put your seatbelt on,” GDragon instructed the youngest of their crew. “He means killer.”

Seungri pulled V into his lap and held him against the back window to keep him steady as the others gripped the sides of the car. They swerved tightly left, V banging his head against Seungri’s.

“Look!” Daesung pointed behind them. One of the cars had burst into flames and another had stopped to avoid the fire. But the third had sped right through.

“We’re gonna have to do a u-ie,” Taeyang yelled.

“She’s hot,” GDragon said, but TOP hit his shoulder.

“Now’s not the time.”

“Who’s U-ee?” V asked.

“You’ll meet her in Xi’an.”

They swung again, with excited screams. Taeyang immediately drove fast through a few windy streets and corners. He drove into a petrol station, turned off the engine and started filling the truck up. “Jiyong, go pay,” he ordered, and the self-proclaimed leader obeyed almost immediately, first slipping a few of the diamond rings onto his fingers.

V watched him parade up to the shop, flashing the rings. In most other neighbourhoods he’d be mugged or worse for this, but here the person behind the till just completed the transaction faster than she normally would. Taeyang wiped his grimy hands on his jeans and took his position behind the wheel.

A police car - the one they thought they’d lost - turned into the petrol station and suddenly everything started moving far, far too slowly.

GDragon got hit by a dart into his leg, collapsed and started shaking uncontrollably.

Taeyang glanced at the police, who were re-aiming the dart gun to them. “We have to go!” he yelled, driving forward.

TOP propelled himself out of the truck. He landed on his hands and knees by GDragon. “Meet you there!” he called.

V looked back. The oldest of their group had the now unconscious GDragon in his arms, hugged to his chest, and they were surrendering.

~~~  
The border posts at Xi’an were highly guarded. The city itself was now surrounded by ten-metre high reinforced concrete walls.

Taeyang placed a heavy metal object in Hoseok’s hand. “Hide this, and keep it safe,” he said.

Hoseok felt the gun’s anatomy. It was good. Not dissimilar to what his father had used sometimes.

Five armed guards and one person checking identities. Seungri cursed. They hadn’t brought any, if any of them even had them. Taeyang seemed unperturbed. The car was a right-hand drive, and the roads meant for left-hands, so Taeyang rolled down Hoseok’s for the impending conversation.

Hoseok raised the pistol and shot it five times, in one’s leg, another’s shoulder, another in someone’s hand. He put the gun to the head of the person sitting in the box. “Let us through.” The guard had no hesitation in responding.

As they drove through the huge concrete gates leading to the city of Xi’an, V watched the guard press an emergency button.

“Run!” Seungri screamed, the moment they passed through the gates. V jumped from the car into streets of old-style houses and ran. Everything was a blur; he was just thinking of how to get back to Seungri.

A finger dug into his back, forcing him onto the ground. The cobbles cut into his stomach, but he complied. “Little slut,” was all he heard before he blacked out.

~~~  
The cell was exceptionally boring, V decided. There wasn’t much to say about it. There were four walls, a barred door, a shelf for a bed and a metal toilet in the corner. He dreaded having to use it.

He’d been here for roughly four conscious hours. There was no window, but it could be night again.

He thought longingly of last night, curled up in Seungri’s arms as Daesung took over Taeyang’s driving.

Oh, how he wanted his Ri.

The door rattled and was yanked open. An officer and another woman stood there.

“Yeah, he’s with me,” the woman nodded. She was tall, red-lipped and smiling. “Hey, V, how’re you doing?”

“Good,” V said. He laughed. “Apart from this.”

The woman walked over to him, grabbed his arm and mouthed “I’m U-ee.”

V smiled. “I’m glad to see you, finally.”

“Hey, I was busy,” U-ee said. “My business doesn’t run itself.” She pulled him to his feet. “Come on.”

They were shown through the police building. U-ee kept her hand in V’s, despite his brief pulls to detach them.

The sunlight hurt his eyes.

There was another woman, taller and even more attractive, standing by a car. She put on a pair of sunglasses and opened the car door. “Hey, V,” she drawled. “It’s Nana, if you couldn’t tell. I dyed my hair. And the sunglasses.”

V got in the car.

U-ee leant against his shoulder in the back of the seat. Her bare knees brushed his. She laughed at his shuffle away from her. “My real name’s Kim Yujin,” she said. “My driver is Im Jinah. Jiyong, Daesung, Taeyang, your brother and the Seunghyuns are at home. Don’t worry, I’m not kidnapping you.”

“Nice kidnappers,” V chuckled nervously.

Yujin tutted. “I thought you and Seungri were a thing.”

“What?!” V yelled. “No, you’re as bad as Taeyang.”

“He’s talked of nothing but you. And he hasn’t even suggested using one of my employees’ services.”

“Err, what do you mean? What do you do?” V gritted his teeth.

Yujin patted his leg. “I run a brothel.”

V sat back in his seat awkwardly. “ . . . and do the others . . . ?”

“You mean your friends?” V nodded. “Yeah, but GTOP have stopped coming a few years back. Since they got together. And since they got the baby you.” Yujin pinched his cheek. “Seungri was too young last time they came, so he’s never…” She held up her hands, two fingers making a ring and another passing through.

V ignored her crude action. “Where do you live, then? And how did GDragon and TOP get here that quickly?”

“My girlfriend pulled in a favour,” called Jinah from the front. “Sooyoung. She’s a police superintendent or something just outside of Xi’an. I swear she gets promoted every day.”

“Quotas,” Yujin said, knowledgably. “Have to have more women.”

“Don’t let her hear that.” Jinah slowed, and began to drive up a hot tarmac drive. “This is us.”

The house was like all the others: all on one level, a sloping roof and a courtyard in the middle. It was nice.

V bowed to the jade statues - some only an inch tall, others reaching his hip - that were lined up on the floor in the first room. He took off his shoes and followed Yujin to the courtyard.

GDragon and TOP were there - the former sitting on the latter’s lap on a swinging seat - and Taeyang and Daesung, painting patterns in the sand, and Hoseok, drinking soup, and Seungri. There were girls too - in traditional Korean and Chinese clothing - with them, holding their hands or just enjoying the company. It was too peaceful for how V thoughts of his elders.

“Ri,” he whispered. Seungri looked round. He was on another swing, dragging his feet on the sand. He smiled broadly.

“This is a place of tranquillity,” he said, once V had walked over to him. He pointed to two girls, one playing a bipa, the other a seul. “I think they’re hypnotising us.”

V stroked Seungri’s hair. “You should sing,” he said. He didn’t realise that he had already been taken in by the trance music.

“When we climb up that tree,” Seungri said. He had a dazed look in his eyes, somewhere between stupified and idyllic.

So they reached up into its branches and climbed to the furthest point they could reach. Seungri hummed.

Before he knew it, V had pushed their foreheads together and their lips were joined. They sighed in unison. There were no other words needed. Just V and VI, five and six.

They snapped out of their trance as V suddenly fell backwards, his hand missing the branch he’d meant to lean it on. His arm dangled over nothingness. He opened the eyes he didn’t remember closing and grabbed Seungri to stop him from falling completely.

“What is this?” Seungri demanded, looking down at the traditional dress he was wearing. He let go of V and twisted his hands in his lap. “V, you know…”

V put his fingers in his ears. “They /are/ hypnotising us! Don’t listen!”

Seungri ripped the hem of the dress off and stuck it in his ears. All sound was muffled. “Let’s go!” he mumbled.

The tree thankfully rested partly on the roof of the house, and they shuffled onto the red tiles. “My brother!” V said, seeing Hoseok a few metres below them.

“He’s happy. He’ll be okay.” Seungri put an arm around V’s shoulders. They dropped down at the other side.

It was sunset already. V expressed his surprise, but Seungri shrugged. “That’s what they do. Last time we stayed five months and barely ate. The musicians are called Kaeun and Yiyoung and they can make you do anything.”

“But Hoseok--”

“They stop hypnotising at eleven and start again at noon. He’ll have thirteen hours of conscious thought per day.”

“How did you not remember that before?”

Seungri sighed. “Because you forget everything in there. As soon as you bow to the statues and walk to the courtyard you’re theirs.”

“Hoseok’s still got all the diamonds,” V said.

Seungri undid the belt and showed V the bag of diamonds he had around his waist. “I’ve got about half here and in my pockets. I think we’re good.”

They walked away from the house. V brushed his fingers against Seungri’s hand and held it.

“I don’t love you,” Seungri said. “I don’t love anyone in that way, nor will I ever. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” V smiled. “Anyway,” he squeezed Seungri’s hand, “I have more than enough love for both of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sound track: Ma City (BTS)


End file.
